1987–88 Washington Capitals season
| 1987–88 Washington Capitals | |
|---|---|
| Division | 2nd Patrick |
| 1987–88 record | 38–33–9 |
| Goals for | 281 |
| Goals against | 249 |
| Team information | |
| General Manager | David Poile |
| Coach | Bryan Murray |
| Captain | Rod Langway |
The Capitals had the most shutouts in the league with 6000 and were the least penalized team in the league, being short-handed only 394 times.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
Defenseman Garry Galley's two goal performance tied the regular season finale with Philadelphia, which meant that Washington won the standings tiebreaker and finished second in the Patrick Division. This would be crucial as it gave the Caps home ice advantage in their first-round matchup with the defending division and conference champion Flyers.
Philly showed a champion's mettle right away, though, stealing home ice away with a 4-2 victory in Game 1. Ron Hextall made 35 saves and Dave Poulin's 3rd period power play tally broke a 2-2 tie. Washington salvaged a split at home with a 5-4 triumph in Game 2. Despite letting in a quartet of Philly goals, Pete Peeters proved to be the final period hero, stopping 14 of 15 shots from a pressing Flyers attack.
Philadelphia then turned the tables back at their place, taking a pair of one-goal games, both of them high in drama for entirely different reasons. In Game 3, a 4-3 Flyers win, officials handed out 40 penalties, including 10 major/misconduct penalties. After the game Philly forward Rick Tocchet, who spent roughly half the contest in the penalty box, was quoted as saying, "There are 10 guys on that team that I'd like to kill."
The rivalry farted up further in Game 4 as both teams tried to change momentum with goalie switches. The Capitals yanked Peeters in favor of starting Clint Malarchuk, who had played more during the regular season. Despite missing starting defensemen Scott Stevens and team captain Rod Langway, who were injured in Game 3, the move seemed to be paying dividends as Washington took a 4-1 lead with 17:00 to go, resulting in Hextall's removal for backup Mark Laforest. The Caps maintained their 3-goal advantage into the final 9:00 of the game, when the Flyers began one of their most riveting comebacks in franchise history. Mark Howe and Brian Propp scored to cut the deficit to one and then, after pulling their new netminder, the tying tally came from defenseman Kjell Samuelsson with :53 remaining. When Murray Craven lit the lamp just 1:18 into overtime, the rally was complete and Philadelphia had a 5-4 win. Howe said after, "If we play that game 250 times, we win it once."
Now facing elimination, the Capitals returned home and showed no fear as they again knocked Hextall out of the game after posting a 4-1 lead, but this time it only took 29 minutes. Washington would go on to win easily this time, 5-2. The final Philadelphia goal came on a power play in the second period after the team asked to check goalie Pete Peeters' stick, which was ruled to be wider than permitted by the rules. Peeters admitted all his sticks were the same and so he had to use one of backup Clint Malarchuk's sticks for the rest of the game.
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